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Leucothoe (plant)
Encyclopedia
Leucothoe is a genus of about 45 species of flowering plant
s in the family Ericaceae
, native to Asia
, the Americas
and Madagascar
.
They are shrub
s growing to 1-3 m tall, either deciduous
or evergreen
depending on species. The leaves
are alternate, oblong-lanceolate, 2-15 cm long. The flower
s are produced in raceme
s 3-15 cm long, each flower bell-shaped, 4-20 mm long, white or occasionally pink.
Selected species
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the family Ericaceae
Ericaceae
The Ericaceae, commonly known as the heath or heather family, is a group of mostly calcifuge flowering plants. The family is large, with roughly 4000 species spread across 126 genera, making it the 14th most speciose family of flowering plants...
, native to Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
, the Americas
Americas
The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...
and Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
.
They are shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...
s growing to 1-3 m tall, either deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
or evergreen
Evergreen
In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant that has leaves in all seasons. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage during the winter or dry season.There are many different kinds of evergreen plants, both trees and shrubs...
depending on species. The leaves
Leaf
A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....
are alternate, oblong-lanceolate, 2-15 cm long. The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are produced in raceme
Raceme
A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...
s 3-15 cm long, each flower bell-shaped, 4-20 mm long, white or occasionally pink.
Selected species
- Leucothoe axillaris (Coastal Doghobble; southeastern United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) - Leucothoe davisiaeLeucothoe davisiaeLeucothoe davisiae is a species of flowering plant in the heath family known by the common name Sierra laurel. It is native to the mountains of eastern and northern California, including the Klamath Mountains, in which its distribution extends just into southern Oregon. It is a shrub growing in wet...
(black laurel; Sierra Nevada, northern CaliforniaCaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
& OregonOregonOregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
) - Leucothoe fontanesiana (Highland Doghobble or Drooping Leucothoe; southeastern United States)
- Leucothoe grayana (JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
) - Leucothoe griffithiana (eastern Himalaya, southwest ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
) - Leucothoe keiskei (Japan)
- Leucothoe populifolia (southeastern United States)
- Leucothoe racemosa (Swamp Doghobble or Sweetbells; eastern United States)
- Leucothoe recurva (Redtwig Doghobble; southeastern United States)
- Leucothoe tonkinensis (southern China, northern VietnamVietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
)